Meet Michael O'Connor, now the country's most powerful union boss

Paul Keating called him a "Labor rat" who should be "excommunicated". Mark Latham called him a "sell out". Julia Gillard called him her "closest confidant". A member of Bill Shorten's frontbench calls him brother.

You can call him the most powerful union boss in the country.

As national secretary of the CFMMEU - notice that extra "M", for maritime - Michael O'Connor will be head of a union with unprecedented scope and power. And he's proven, time and again, that he's not scared to wield power.

The CFMEU's Michael O'Connor.Credit:AAP

As a top CFMEU official in the 1990s he organised the loggers' blockage of Parliament House that so angered Keating. A decade later he dramatically intervened in the 2004 federal election, swinging the CFMEU behind John Howard's Tasmanian forestry policy and helping to sink Latham's bid for the top job.

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On both occasions he was prepared to wear Labor's wrath to stand up for his members. It came as no surprise then, when he rose to the top of the union seven years ago, extending his political influence.

He took over in 2011, when Gillard was prime minister. Her former boyfriend, O'Connor was instrumental in getting Gillard into politics. In her maiden speech, she described him as her "most committed" supporter.

"I would not have reached this place without his support," she said.

His brother is Brendan O'Connor, Labor's workplace spokesman. This too gives him more power and access than most - and could pose a potential conflict of interest should Brendan remain in the portfolio if Labor wins government.

But it's not just his connections that make him a force to be reckoned with. By all accounts he is a relentless and effective lobbyist, forging strong relationships with Senate crossbenchers and other key Canberra figures.

Despite the CFMEU's reputation as a lawless, rogue institution, O'Connor is not some bovver boy. He is well-liked even by some of the employers with whom he does battle, with a reputation as a straight shooter.

He doesn't court controversy in the same way as someone like Victorian boss, John Setka. He prefers to fly under the radar and doesn't make a habit of talking to the media. He hates being the subject of profiles like this one.

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He's also a cleanskin, avoiding the criminal convictions of many of his CFMEU stablemates. The Turnbull government's building watchdog pursued him for unlawful industrial action targeting Boral in 2016 but was forced into an embarrassing backdown after conceding he hadn't actually been involved.

Nonetheless, the UK-born son of two factory workers has presided over a period of industrial lawbreaking on an industrial scale, with the CFMEU racking up $13 million in fines over the past few years. A federal court judge last year branded the union the most recidivist corporate offender in Australian history.

With power comes responsibility. Michael O'Connor has more power than ever. Will he wield it responsibly?